Infidelity
by RunAwayWithMeInTheNight
Summary: After a marriage that has grown cold Ludwig is desperate for the sensual touch of another human being. Marianne fem!France has been married to Arthur for years but their regular fights have left her in the bitter shell of a marriage. By chance, Ludwig and Marianne meet and find extramarital comfort in each others arms. Human AU.
1. Chapter 1

Six-thirty in the morning was an unnatural time to wake up (especially when it was the time of the year that the sun would not even begin to rise). Marianne fully understood the fact that such a time was meant for sleeping and not starting one's day, but her husband had yet to learn and his alarm clock would blast waking the two of them up. She would mutter and moan under her breath about the hour being "ungodly", usually in French, and he would swear as he stumbled around the room, complaining about her lack of English in the early hours. Curiosity had lead Marianne to wake up and see what it was exactly her husband did that early in the morning in the early years of their marriage. It had consisted of showering, drinking a cup of tea and reading the newspaper until seven when he would get their sons up. It was boring and a half hour under the duvet was just so much more her style.

At seven she would rise sleepily from bed still in whatever it was she had fallen asleep in (even if it was nothing) slip on her robe and make her way down to the kitchen to cook a simple breakfast for her husband and three sons. She used to not worry about the robe, but Arthur's shouting of "Good-God woman there are children present!" lead her to start covering herself up. Marianne had an amazing body, and when one factored in that she had given birth to three boys (one set of twins and the second pregnancy had been just a little over a year ago) she was a work of art that should be admired and not covered up because her husband thought that she should. Arthur would be distracted by the news catching up on all of the events that had happened while he had slept, Alfred would be reading the comics from the newspaper while jabbering on about something no one but him cared about, his twin brother Matthew would sit quietly holding his stuffed bear and watching the news with his father (because it made him more "mature"), and little Peter would sit in his high chair loudly hitting the tray looking to his brothers and father to be amazed at the noises he could make.

Breakfast would be served and no thanks would be given for her meal that she'd dragged herself out of bed to make. Marianne would feed Peter cooing to him and helping him out when it came to the sounds that he made, trying to teach him how to make those sounds into words both French and English. It was a great source of pride for her and Arthur that the twins were bilingual. When the meal had been eaten the two older boys would be rounded up by Arthur and the twins would receive kisses before heading out, the boys to their private elementary school and her husband to his job editing a national gardening magazine. Marianne would clear the table; wipe Peter down, before heading back to bed. She would sleep again until ten or ten thirty, Peter nuzzling close to her.

It had been ten years since Marianne had met Arthur. He was a botany student and she was in her last semester of studying business and design, deciding to leave behind her beautiful Paris to study for a few months in the United States. Arthur and his family had been living in the states for years by then and the two had met through mutual friends. It wasn't exactly love at first site, but rather hates a first site. He had been drunk and slurred out an insult calling her a "French whore", offended she replied with an insult to his eye brows, and something along the lines of "Clearly you are a true English gentleman" the sarcasm had gone over his head in his state of intoxication and he thanked her for the decency to recognize that. The two had shouted insults at one another before they ended up leaving together and having rough, angry, hateful sex. Some how from that night of insults, fornication, and what-not the two began dating and decided that they loved one another enough to become engaged. Marianne moved to the United States soon after finishing her degree and the two had an over the top ceremony, complete with a ridiculously long train on her gown and the releasing of white doves (all her ideas after all she had been planning her wedding since the age of three).

Their life as a married couple had been a lot like their life as a dating couple, only with less alcohol. The two would insult one another have wild and rough sex before falling asleep in each other's arms only to repeat the same process over again over the course of the next twenty four hours. In a few months Marianne had become pregnant with the twins, and the two began to prepare for having two new baby boys in their life. They'd moved from their apartment in the city out to a single family home in the suburbs, and began to pay a mortgage so that they would own their own home one day. The two had been born in early July, due to complications with the birthing process however Matthew had been born on the first of the month and Alfred the fourth, making them identical twins with two days between them. Life with two baby boys in the house made Arthur and Marianne settle into a more domestic life style less wild then their earlier relationship had been.

Once the boys were in kindergarten Arthur and Marianne had begun to go more into what they had been before. Though their fights were always behind closed doors, and always end in angry rough sex. Lots of biting, yelling, swearing and scratching. During the period between the twins' birth and Peter's conception, she had gone into the business of owning her own restaurant. A house band would perform while the patrons sat in candle light at little circular tables, the menu was French (of course), there was a small bar with specialty cocktails and in the basement was a little pastry shop that turned out fresh baked goods during the day and turned into the desert kitchen at night. It was a nice little set up and made the Kirkland's good money so that Marianne could buy fancier designer dresses for herself, and expensive gifts for her boys and her husband.

When she had become pregnant with Peter, Marianne began to spend less time at the restaurant and more time at home. There was only so much time she could spend on her feet, plus the heat of the kitchen, and her mood swings did not mix, at all. Once Peter had been born she stayed home for the standard three months making sure the baby was well and caring for her family, only going to her business once or twice a week. After the few months were over she began spending more time there to make sure everything was going as well as she liked.

That was about the time that she and Arthur began to have sex less frequently then before and argue more often as well.

After waking up for the second time Marianne would dress Peter in a little outfit that was not only stylish but also appropriate for the weather. She would set him in his playpen before taking a shower and getting herself ready for the day. Once the two were fully dressed they'd get into the minivan and take a trip out shopping. If there were particular ingredients or things that were needed at the restaurant she would pick them up from the supplier before dropping them off at the restaurant. If not then the two would go to the grocery store or buy clothes. The elderly women at the super market would go on and on about how cute Peter was and how pretty she was. When Alfred and Mattie had been little the same thing would happen (along with the bilingual ability of the boys their high level of cuteness was another source of pride for Marianne).

Once the errands had been done the two would head home. Marianne would make a lunch for herself and Peter before laying him down for a nap. While the baby napped she would clean up the house and do the dishes from breakfast and lunch. The floors would be swept and mopped, the carpets vacuumed, and Alfred and Matthew's bedrooms would be picked up and their beds would be made. By the time everything would good and clean Peter would be awake. By that time she would head out to get the twins for school. While the boys played and did their homework she would start up dinner; helping them and playing as was needed. It took work but she firmly believed that she was a talented enough woman to be able to balance the life of a mother, wife, and professional minded business woman.

Arthur would get home around five or so and they would have dinner all together sharing the news of their day. Alfred always told stories of bravery, Matthew was quiet, and Peter would babble his baby words and the occasion actual word trying to join in on the conversation as best as he could. When dinner was over, the kitchen would be cleaned up and she would get ready for the night in one of her expensive cocktail dresses, kiss her husband and sons goodbye before heading to work.

Her life at work was busy. She was on her feet the whole time, sampling the drinks (no more than a sip per each, check the dishes, talk to the staff and regulars. All while making sure everything was perfect. She would then check the profits made during the day, place orders for what was running low, and help with the clean up after the last of the patrons had left. On a busy warm night she would often not get home until after two or even sometimes three. She would strip out of her dress and climb into bed careful not to wake Arthur.


	2. Chapter 2

Ludwig always woke up, Monday through Saturday, at five in the morning. He would get out of bed as careful as he could (so that his wife could continue to sleep), then get dressed into a pair of gym shorts and a t-shirt no matter what the tempter was like outside. Once dressed, he would gather the three dogs and the four of them would go out for a morning run together. It was Ludwig's favorite time of the day, before the sun and everyone else had woken up. The streets were quiet expect for an occasional car or young man on his paper route. The dogs were all well trained and would run along close to him, but not to the point where he would trip over one of them.

The group of four would make their way back to the house and by six he was in the basement lifting weights in the home gym that he had set up. There was a morning routine that he had established in his awkward teenage years at an attempt to make himself less awkward. He had once been a slight young man, lacking in confidence; the work out made his frame fill out and also was excellent at relieving the stress of striving to attain the grades he and his parents desired for him, and the stress caused by his older rambunctious delinquent of an older brother Gilbert.

When his morning work-out was over he would make his way up to the shower. At about that time Ludwig's wife Nataliya would be out of bed and being to make breakfast; she was a great cook, and was sure to make every meal to the nutritional specifications he had given her when the two began to live with one another; complex carbohydrates, lean proteins, vegetables, fruit, and dairy were packed into the most important meal of the day. Once Ludwig was showered he would dress in his work's required business wear, his hair slicked back with so much gel that not even gale force winds would be able to make a single hair come out of place.

Breakfast would be sitting on his table mat at the small kitchen table and Nataliya would be in her usual seat across from him, her plate yet to be touched. They would sit there eating the breakfast quietly talking about their plans for the day, the weather, nothing ever too important. She was not really a morning person like him, even though she was able to produce a large breakfast by seven in the morning when it came to communicating it was not the best time for her (though just like Ludwig, Nataliya was emotionally challenged).

When breakfast was finished she would go and take a shower and get dressed while Ludwig would do the dishes and pack two lunches, one for her and one for himself. When she was ready to face the day the two would exchange a chaste kiss before parting ways. Nataliya to the florist she and her two older siblings ran, and he to his job as a civil engineering job.

Ludwig had met Nataliya when he was twenty-three and had begun to think seriously about settling down, getting married, and starting a family. He had a decent job, and was worried about following in the footsteps of his father. His initial reaction to her was that she was physically attractive (he had a thing for blondes with long legs), and when he began to talk to her was rather glad to find out that she was a quiet, polite young woman that enjoyed many of the duties of a housewife, even though she was single. The two dated for two and a half years (a reasonable time to get to know one another) and were married.

The life of a married couple was an easy adjustment for the two to make. Neither one of them attended parties frequently or were the least bit wild. Ludwig would get home from work between six and six thirty every day to a clean house, the smell of a cooking dinner, and his beautiful young bride happy to see him. They would sit and eat dinner and spend a quiet evening until around eight or so when they would make their way to the bedroom. Despite Ludwig's calm professional appearance, he was interested in all sorts of sex that was not exactly vanilla; and the same could certainly be said for Nataliya too. Their frequency per week was higher than that of most couples too, with nights of slow tender love making between the more wild sessions.

A few months into their marriage Nataliya began to talk about wanting to have a baby. There was something about the thought of having a child with his lovely wife that Ludwig had to admit sounded rather nice and the two of them decided that it was time to start trying for a child. That continued on for nearly three years with no luck. Frustrated she went to the doctor. That was when the two found out that the odds of Nataliya ever being able to conceive were slim. The news sent the two into a state of depression, though hers was far deeper than his. It was clear from the way that her face lit up when they spoke about what to name a little boy or girl, what the room would look like, which one of them it would more resemble, that his wife wanted nothing more than to be a loving mother along with dutiful wife.

She continued to care for Ludwig as she had before, but there was something more robotic in her movements, with less emotion and joy going through the motions of just being a wife and never anything more. Ludwig's idiot of an older brother Gilbert suggested that the two of them get a dog or something; it was the only suggestion that he ever made that Ludwig took to heart and he and Nataliya began to adopt their dogs at this time. It had only been a temporary happiness for his wife though, for a dog would never be a baby.

When Ludwig returned home from work the house would be clean, his wife would great him, and dinner would either be finished or close to finished. The two would eat quietly talking as they did over breakfast, only it would be a review of the day rather than their plans. The dogs would be fed and let out while Nataliya cleaned the dishes. Once the dishes were clean they would sit together on the couch watching the news or a movie that was on television. At nine-thirty she would make her way upstairs and get into bed. When Ludwig was certain she had fallen asleep he would make his way to his study and quietly masturbate to one of the DVDs in his extensive pornographic library that he'd managed to keep secret from his wife. When that was finished he would clean himself up and make his way to bed as well.


	3. Chapter 3

"Good god woman close your robe there are children present!" Arthur shouted the moment his wife entered the kitchen. Peter squealed from his high chair shouting what she supposed was supposed to be 'Good god' (mostly because it came out as a bunch of "goo"s).

Marianne just shrugged pulling her royal blue robe closer together and securing the tike better while shooting her husband a dirty look. The look on his face was too smug for him to notice her displeasure.

"Eww boobs are gross." Alfred said, Matthew remained quiet completely unfazed by his mother's exposed breasts, "Mama why'd you have to show me that?"

"You know," she said depositing a cartoon of orange juice on the table, "You used to drink nothing but the milk form my breasts." It was her turn to put a smug smile on her face as she let the words sink into her son's seven year old mind.

"THAT IS SO GROSS!" Alfred shouted, once the message was in his head.

Marianne kissed Peter's forehead brushing some of the hair off of her youngest child's forehead as Arthur scolded the loud young boy. "You've seen me feed Peter before, really why didn't you make the connection before?" she asked as she set the frying pan down on the stove.

"Really Marianne is this conversation necessary?" Arthur asked raising one of his over-sized eyebrows at his wife, "You'll just get him wound up before school and he'll end up traumatizing the other children over breast feeding."

"It's your fault if he does." she crossed her arms leaning against the counter, "He should know that a woman's breasts are meant to give a baby good, balanced, nutrition. It's one of the many beautiful things about a woman's body."

"And it's inappropriate for you to wander around the house with one of your natural wonders hanging out."

"Overreacting to it is far worse than having him see it. Now he's going to be traumatized because of your obsession with covering them up. I had seen my mother's naked body many times as a child, and my father's as well; look at me, I'm perfectly normal."

"Except for the fact that you cannot cover your body up, act maturely, and wander the streets all night."

"I'm working, you have the number and the address so you know that means you can come and check up on me anytime and I'll be glad to show you that I am doing absolutely nothing wrong at all. She huffed mixing up some instant pancake batter, "And look Mattie doesn't care at all. Do you Mattie?"

"Nope. Mama you can walk around naked all you want." the oldest said nuzzling his stuffed white bear closer.

She smiled pointing at the child as she whisked the bowl, "See that Arthur. It's only Alfred that cares."

"I can't believe I drank from your boobs... mama why did you have to tell me that?"

"Come off if Alfred." Arthur half shouted, "I drank milk from your grandmother's body as a baby, it's not that big of a deal really."

"That's even worse of a mental image." the young boy looked even more horrified and slammed his forehead into the table. His older twin brother just looked at his brother not saying or doing anything else, just staring at him with his big blue eyes- amazed at his brother's idiotic oblivion being shattered.

* * *

Ludwig's morning was going far better than he could have anticipated. He had woken up to a mid-January morning far warmer then he initially thought was possible making his morning jog far more enjoyable then what he was expecting. When he showered the water seemed warmer and the soap more fragrant and the shampoo seemed to lather up easier than usual. Once he was finished getting dressed he made his way to the kitchen to find that Nataliya had paid a visit to his favorite butcher's for fresh sausages and swung by the baker's as well for artisan crafted bread. She set his plate down in front of him with her usual distant smile and they ate quietly.

"How was your run?" she asked cutting off a piece of sausage with her fork. She never ate as much as Ludwig did. He was a man with an active life style after all and for the most part she absolutely hated to exercise deciding to practice portion control as her metabolism slowed down.

"Good." One word answers were what he usually gave when Nataliya asked questions like she did.

"I was talking to Katyusha yesterday," she paused for a moment watching her husband for a brief moment after mentioning her older sister, "And she suggested that we should go to an agency and start looking into adopting a child. She says that it would be better than spending money on results that can't be guaranteed."

Ludwig nodded briefly. That would explain why she'd gone out of the way with breakfast. The sausage, the bread, and the fruit she'd sliced up as well. She wanted to have a conversation about adopting. Well it was too early in the morning for that kind of thinking, he was fully awake yes, but not prepared to discuss his feelings about something as big as that. And he really wished that he would have had a warning before being hit with that. "I supposed that we could." he said slowly. He really didn't have any objections he could think of when it came to adopting a child. The odds of him and Nataliya conceiving a child of their own were rather slim, and well it was apparent that she wanted to have a child to raise and coddle. "But we should discuss this further."

Nataliya's smile got a little bit wider before she stood up and leaned over the table giving him a gentle kiss on his cheek. He tensed up a bit at her touch. She had never really been a woman to use physical contact to share her emotions with him (and nor was he with her). They would say their feelings but words had limited effect. Actions however spoke leaps and bounds more. That little kiss said something along the lines of, "I am so glad that you would consider this. I will be glad to discuss this with you and am certain that you will feel the same way as I do in the end." And that was when his heart sunk and instantly Ludwig regretted his words.

"I should go get ready." she said quickly finishing off the rest of her breakfast, "We have the table arrangements for a wedding to do, and well Vanya," her older brother, "says that mine are the best." she added a little giggle at the end, "He's always told me that I am a professional when it comes to weddings. But you should be late getting home too right?"

Ludwig thought for a moment. Why would Nataliya think he would be late getting home from work? Whenever he had to do overtime and fix the mistakes of someone else in his department that was without warning. "Why do you say that?" he opted to ask as was halfway out of the kitchen's door frame.

"It's Gilbert's birthday. I wrapped his gift and placed it on the table in the hallway." Nataliya looked a bit worried, "Just watch him more carefully this year. I'd rather you not have to bail him out again this year." with that she made her way to the shower and Ludwig moaned placing the palm of his hand to his forehead.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Thank you for your reviews lovely readers! They honestly make me feel so happy!

_Katyusha is Ukraine_ (I tried to make that obvious when I wrote this part)


	4. Chapter 4

Ludwig pulled up to the address that Nataliya had written on the little slip of paper as to where his brother's birthday party would be blinking up at the dark blue awning. "Pour Vous" was written in large curving white letters with the address printed in something more sensible underneath it. His eyes went back to the paper making sure that everything matched up correctly and it did. But it couldn't be right, this place was a classy restaurant in the good part of town, a large expensive hotel was across the street and every other establishment on the block of converted row houses were other respectable businesses.

Ludwig had a miniature panic attack, he had thought that "Pour Vous" was going to be some kind of terrible strip club, the sort of place where they hoped to class up their sketchy business with the philosophy that giving it a French name made everything less shady—he could sense a law suit coming up. Knowing Gilbert, he could see his brother going on a drunken rampage throughout the whole restaurant, interrupting the other patron's meals, and generally being an embarrassment. His panic attack and the whole ordeal being played out mentally was brought to an end by the valet knocking lightly on the passenger side door. Ludwig looked up to see a smile on the man's lips but confusion in his eyes; he rolled down the window.

"Are you lost sir?" the young man said leaning down to make eye contact with him, "Or are you a patron?"

"A patron," Ludwig said turning off the car and grabbing his brother's gift neatly wrapped in light gray paper from the passenger's seat of the car and got out; handing the keys to the man who had brought him from his disturbing fantasy before making his way up the stairs into the restaurant.

It certainly didn't seem like the sort of place Gilbert would ever dream of going to. His brother was the sort of man to take his girlfriends (even the serious ones) to dive bars as a romantic date. The dining rooms with dimmed yet still cozy recess lighting and candle lit tables for two made Ludwig decide that if he could make it through the night without being too embarrassed to ever return there again he would bring Nataliya here for a little date. Maybe that would put her in the mood for—well something other than a quiet night watching television together (at this point Ludwig was desperate for sex with his wife, anything would do at this point).

"Monsieur," a man with a thick French accent said standing behind the little wooden podium, "do you have a reservation?"

"No. I am actually here for the Beilschmidt party."

"That is in the private dining room." He made small motion for Ludwig to follow him up the wide wooden stairwell that wound up to the fourth floor centered around a large ornate hanging lamp. When they reached the third floor the man reached his arm out to signify they had made it to the location before leaving.

"WEST!" his brother practically jumped him the moment he walked through the door a huge (practically permanent) grin plastered to his pale face, "You really did come. I thought you would skip out this year after all the fun we had last time."

The fun in question had been Gilbert and his friend Antonio getting absolutely, for a lack of a better word in the situation, shitfaced at some terribly dingy bar while Ludwig looked on horrified. The two had then ran around the city causing chaos as they went, Ludwig following behind them apologizing and trying to stop before they destroyed the whole town. Only to have the night end in them being arrested trying to scale the wall of the zoo. Nataliya ad to be woken up at two in the morning so that she could pull money out of her account so that she and Ludwig could get his brother out of jail as quickly as possible; the only thing that made the whole night worthwhile was the thought that Gilbert's hangover, his wife Elizaveta, and his court ordered community service had punished him well enough to teach the man a lesson. It was amazing it took until he was thirty-five to learn the dangers of over drinking.

"I wouldn't do that to you brother." Ludwig said. Despite the fact that if Nataliya hadn't reminded him this morning, bought and wrapped a gift, and had completed the whole thing with tucking the directions into his wallet and calling him before he left work that she had given them to him he would not have come. He smiled a little and handed the present over to his brother.

Elizaveta popped up next to her husband. Suddenly everything about the location made more sense, the organization and the fact that there were so many people as well. She must have been the one in change and was chaperoning in hopes that there would be no repeat of the previous year's craziness. "Ludwig!" she said cheerfully pulling him into a hug, "Why didn't you bring Nataliya along too? Even Roderich and Vash will be showing up later."

"I didn't know that the party was going to be so organized this year. I thought for certain it would just be Gilbert, a friend of his, and I all sitting somewhere while the two of them got drunk. If I would have known it would be somewhere so classy then I really would have brought her along." His brother hand wondered away to socialize with more of the guests, "Were you the one to figure all this out."

"It's a continuation of his punishment. Hopefully I can really manage to get it into his head that in our marriage I am the one in charge period." Her smile was quite devious, "You remember Marianne, right."

How could anyone forget Marianne? She was beautiful, elegant, intelligent, talented, and above all else classy. Sure she could be stuck up and downright snobbish at times, but that was only to be expected when one looked like she did. Ludwig even had to admit back when he was first finding out just what puberty meant that he had a crush on her for a few years, even if he was his older brother's best friend. How she had ever become friends with Gilbert was shocking. And at one point she was practically inseparable from Gilbert and Antonio, the three of them would run around causing all sorts of problems—though while the boys got into trouble she had the ability to sense danger and get out, or just use her womanly charms to get out of it. Ludwig nodded at his sister in law.

"Well she owns this place and when Gilbert went on about wanting to have another party this year I thought I'd ask her if we could use the private room. She was more than happy to let us use it for free as long as we paid for the food."

"Makes sense." He said with a nod, "So, your ex-husband is coming why?"

"Further punishment, though Gilbert does like to tease him—so I guess it's a try at making sure he had a bit of fun."

"And Vash?"

"To keep him from having too much fun." Elizaveta said with a sly little smile on her lips before excusing herself so that she could greet another guest.

Ludwig made his way to the table of food and made himself a little plate. It was mostly finger foods, the kinds of things you would expect to see at a party, but not at an establishment owned by Marianne Bonnefoy. He took a spot standing near one of the large windows set away from his brother's guests. He did care for Gilbert nor did he have an early start in the morning; he would just rather leave before there were any sort of shenanigans (he didn't quite trust all of the provisions his sister-in-law had put into place).

"Always living from the sidelines, really Ludwig you haven't changed one bit." A smooth and deep, yet feminine, French accented voice said causing him to look up from his little white plate. Marianne stood in front of him, lips bright red, long light brown hair swept over her bare shoulder; the other was covered by the single sleeve of her draped black dress. In her hands she held two glasses of champagne, one clearly meant for him which he took with a small nod. "Do you just like to watch people or are you afraid of living?" she asked stepping so that she stood next to him before taking a sip.

He could feel a little bit of that adolescent crush coming back as she brushed her arm gently against his.

"I'm just not good with crowds." He said quietly, "Unless it's public speaking, but when it comes to mingling in one I'm no good." She chuckled a little bit at his words. "I just don't see the point in socializing in such large groups, you don't really have a chance to get to know anyone it is that you're talking to."

"I think that's kind of the point. If you don't get to know all of the people that you're talking to then the same goes for them, they don't get to know you well either." Marianne sighed, "This conversation got far too serious far too fast, so how about we start over again." She turned to look at him a smile on her lips, "It's been a while since we last got to speak, so how are you doing?"

"Well. Work has been keeping me busy, which is good I guess."

"You still have time to keep up with your fitness though." She added a little squeeze to his muscular arm to accent her point; Ludwig tensed up right away which naturally caused her to laugh, "I can tell even though you are wearing a suit, I'm sure you're wife appreciates it." There was an obvious suggestive nature to her tone.

He was a bit flustered and took a moment to properly clear his head before moving along with the conversation, "How about you, are you well?"

"I've got my business, my boys, and Arthur. Did Gilbert tell you that I had a third son last year?" he nodded, "I'm a bit disappointed that I had to miss the festivities because of it. Did he really try to climb the gate in his underwear?"

The look on his face horrified, "Please don't remind me of that. I haven't had time to see a therapist to repress the memories." She laughed in the deep yet lighthearted way he remembered from when she would visit the Beilschmidt house back when he was still in high school.

"I will never understand how the two of you ended up so different. You look and act nothing a like at all. Really are you sure that you and Gilbert are brothers?"

"That is what I have always been told, and I believe it. He looks more like our mother I guess, though I hope she never acted the same way as he does most of the time."

"He isn't so bad, if he was then I would have had to cut all ties to him within moments of meeting him. But he's got a certain idiot charm to him that I can't help but like."

"You know idiot is the perfect word to describe it…"

"Don't be so harsh towards him. Really sure he can be childish most of the time though it's all on purpose. He acts like an "adult" at work I am certain or there would be no way he was able to get an office job. But I suspect that behaving that way kills a little bit of him, so why not let him just be who he really is and be free when he doesn't have to be."

"There is a difference between being 'childish' and being 'insane'." Ludwig said in a serious voice before it softened a bit, "He is my older brother and I do care about him. I want him to be happy and I have accepted him for what he is like, but that doesn't been that I cannot be horrified when he strips down and tries to break into public property because he wants to ride the giraffes."

Marianne raised an eye brow "And Antonio was totally in for this plan?"

"I think he wanted to do the same thing. I'm not sure when he's really drunk he forgets how to speak English and I didn't take any Spanish in school."

"Now I really wish I would have been there! But between here, Arthur, and the boys I rarely have anytime to spend to myself. I guess that's just a sacrifice that had to be made, it's hard enough balancing work and family, toss in watching Gilbert make an idiot of himself just doesn't fit in well." She took another sip, as one of her staff waved to her from the door, "It looks like I am needed elsewhere." Marianne sighed, "Well it was nice having a little chat with you. We will have to talk again soon."

Ludwig smiled, "That sounds good." She pressed a little kiss to each of his cheeks before heading to the hallway where her employee was waiting.


	5. Chapter 5

Ludwig returned home a little after midnight, having decided to leave his brother's party early. Gilbert had managed to get drunk even with Elizabeta's supervision, leading Ludwig to believe it was time for his leave of absence. This was however after he had watched the gifts be opened and enjoyed a slice of cake provided and baked by Marianne's personal pastry shop (and it was absolutely delicious).

Thinking about the cake made him think about Marianne, and oh how seeing her had brought back memories from when he was just a middle school kid, filled to the top with hormones. There was something about comparing the way she had been back then as a flirtatious high school girl, confident, and effortlessly sexy yet still maintaining class to the way she was now; which was pretty much the same. It seemed impossible how time could be nothing but kind to her, her body had lost the slender straight lines and was replaced by womanly curves. It seemed as though her giving birth to the three sons she had mentioned made it so that all weight gain automatically went to her hips and bust yet kept them neat and orderly (not at all sloppy like many other women's seemed to do).

But he was a married man, and she a married woman. Any urges Ludwig had would have to be relieved solo (like all of this other sexual urges for so long now).

As Ludwig entered his house through the front door two of his three dogs greeted him (panting and happy as dogs nearly always are when their owners come home), along with the faint sound and light of the television in the den still on. "Nataliya, I'm home," he called down the hall, figuring she had stayed up to watch some TV.

After a few seconds and no answer Ludwig made his way to the den, the two dogs following behind him. The third dog was asleep on the floor in front of the couch were Nataliya was sleeping, propped up on her two hands. Debating in his head for a moment whether or not he should wake her, Luwig decided to kill time by quietly waking up the sleeping Aster and letting her out along with Blitz and Blackie to use the bathroom before he would head up to bed.

"Nataliya," he spoke louder this time, but it wasn't until he reached over and shook her shoulder that his wife woke up with a start her blue eyes wide as she glanced around trying to gather what exactly was going on, "You feel asleep on the couch."

"Oh!" she yawned covering her mouth with the back of her hand, "it's just you." She offered him a weak smile before rubbing the sleep from her eyes with small fists. "I meant to just rest my eyes."

"You probably need some sleep. Don't you have a wedding you're working on this weekend?"

She nodded, "Yeah. Katya and I got the bulk of the prep work finished today, along with the bouquets. Oh, Ludwig, the flowers look lovely and I know that they will be gorgeous on the bride tomorrow, I really can't wait to see it. Though getting all of the center pieces set on the tables is going to be a pain." She yawned again.

"You need your rest Nataliya, especially if it's going to be a busy day?"

"I'm fine. And you're one to talk Mr. Come-home-at-midnight-and-will-be-up-before-the-sun-anyway! I wanted to talk with you."

"About what?" he fixed her with an uneasy look. Where ever this was going he was unsure of if he would like it.

"How was the party?"

"Nice. Elizabeta was the chaperon so she kept my brother under control."

"She went to a strip club?"

"It was actually a really nice French place. Marianne owned it—she's one of Gilbert's best friends."

Nataliya smirked, "the one you had a crush on?"

"Did you really want to stay up and talk to be about the party?"

"Can't I be curious?" she asked with a little grin before motioning for Ludwig to join her on the couch. He obeyed and settled in on the cushion next to the one that she occupied. Nataliya then did something unexpected and leaned in close to him loosening the tie he still worse slowly, before placing a hand on his muscular chest, and snaking the other hand into him. He could feel his heart beginning to speed up. "Did you think about what we talked about earlier?"

It took a moment for Ludwig to realize what his wife was talking about (the physical contact from her was throwing him off). Right, she wanted to adopt a kid. "I didn't really get a chance to look anything up, sorry."

She chuckled, "I want to know more about how you feel about the idea, not really about the research you came up with. So, what do you feel dear?"

iWhat did he feel?/i The image of a little boy playing in the front yard with the dogs as he pulled up into the drive way. He would ruffle the kid's hair before they headed into the house for one of Nataliya's delicious home cooked meals. The three of them would talk about their day before Ludwig and his son would work on his homework, before it would be bath time. After that it would be bed time and he and his wife would tuck the boy into bed maybe tell him a little story to help him sleep. But there was something that still seemed a little off about the vision.

He had always imagined when he would have children that they would come from his body containing his DNA. And when he purposed to Nataliya he always imagined that the two of them would have children that had their genetics. When Ludwig had learned that his wife was unable to have children, he always assumed that the two of them would never have any sort of children (biological or adopted) and he was okay with that.

"I don't know how I feel." He said with a little sigh squeezing her hand a bit, "I need to know all of the facts before I can tell you how I feel."

"I swear," There was a touch of frustration in her voice as she moved her body away from his, "is it so hard for you to act on feelings and not on facts. Don't you have any impulse in you?"

Ludwig caught a tighter hold on her hand, not wanting Nataliya to move away from him. He craved her touch so often and now that he had it he didn't want to let it go, "Children are a responsibility, you can't just decide you want one without thinking things through. They require money which means a budget needs to be drawn, and what if a child becomes sick or gets injured, than that's more money."

"I'm not asking you to balance a budget or even a promise of actually going through with an adoption, Ludwig!" she said his name with a touch of disgust, "I am just asking you if you would want to look into doing it." She shook her hand trying to get it away from him.

He continued to hold on, "I don't completely object the idea."

"What does that even mean?" Nataliya pinned him with one of her signature glares, "Why can't you just say yes or no?"

"There are plenty of things about you that drive me crazy too. So you can wait more than a few hours for me to figure out whether or not if I would like to adopt a child!"

"Like what?" She ripped her hand away from his now fixing him with a death glare.

"Hmm, I don't know how about the fact that we haven't had intercourse in months? That might be it." Now Ludwig was yelling; what would the neighbors think if they over heard the two of them fighting?

"I don't see how that's an issue." Her voice automatically getting defensive, "We're having a conversation about something completely different?"

"You were the one that asked me what you did that drove me insane. I was just throwing out an example."

"This wasn't about me. It was just supposed to be about the fact that I am trying to improvise; trying to take advantage of a sad situation to fit our own. I just don't want to—" she threw her hands up into the air before stomping off and up the steps slamming the bedroom door behind her.

Ludwig stood up himself and followed her to the bottom of the stairs, "YOU CAN'T EVEN GIVE ME THE END TO THAT SENTENCE?" he shouted behind her.

He waited for a moment and when there wasn't even the sound of her shuffling upstairs groaned running his hands through his short blonde hair. He made his way to the sliding glass door in the den that lead to the back yard and called the three dogs back in before locking the door and turning off the television, then headed into his office locking the door behind him, making sure that his dogs were not in with him.

Ludwig went to his stash of porn and fished out a DVD. For a brief fleeting moment he was tempted to watch it in the den, and masturbate there on the couch just to spite Nataliya and let her see just what effect she was having on him. That would be too immature though for his personal tastes.

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bAN/b So I think I'm back guys! So sorry it took so long or an update, but I suddenly got my groove back for the sucker last night after listening to a bunch of big band music. So you have Glen Miller to thank for this one.


	6. Chapter 6

Marianne considered the health and nutrition of her two boys to be very important. When it came down to making sure they were fed well, she could sacrifice a bit of sleep to feed the twins a delicious breakfast before being sent off to school. But when it came to Saturdays, she was perfectly fine with just allowing Alfred and Matthew to eat whatever sugary cereal Arthur had bought (for Peter it was a microwaved bottle of breast milk and some cheerios he would mostly smash and shove around his tray).

This particular Saturday though, Marianne was having trouble sleeping in. It didn't make much sense, she had had a longer than usual time out last night. Hosting Dear Gilbert's birthday party, running her restaurant, and afterwards heading out with Anotnio, Gilbert, and Elizabeta for some post party drinks at a dingy dive bar; she hadn't managed to make it home until nearly four. Yet even though she was exhausted, she found herself laying on her back and starring up at the ceiling.

Arthur pushed the door open carrying a cooing Peter in his arms. "Oh, you're not asleep?" he said stopping to close the door.

"I can't seem to fine the proper position to slip back into dream land." She yawned, sitting up and reached her arms out for her youngest son. The moment she had him she went right to kissing his sticky fingers and cheeks; which rewarded her with happy babbling. Marianne took a break from her happy kisses to scold her husband complete with a less then amused look, "Why didn't you wipe him down? He's still covered in whatever you fed him."

Arthur scoffed, "I was going to towel him off but you demanded on taking him before I could make it to the bathroom." He entered the master bathroom.

The moment he turned on the tap she said in a raised voice, "Well you should have given me a quick warning!" accenting her words with a kiss to the back of the baby's hand.

"Well maybe you could have been the one to do that if you weren't wasting your day in bed. It's nearly noon and you're still lying about! Though I suppose when you're out all night like a sorority girl, then no other behavior is to be expected."

"You know I work late hours—"

"Not normally that late." He tossed the towel dampened with warm water to her, she picked it up and when to wiping Peter down. "If you would act your age then you could have been the one to wake up and supervise the children. Alfred's running around the living room refusing to listen—"

It was her turn to interrupt, "And why is that? You're the one that buys that terrible sugar. All those chemicals, and the sugar!" she added a gasp for dramatic effect (Marianne loved dramatics).

"Well if you were up at a reasonable time, then they wouldn't have had to eat it!"

"It's not my fault you can't be trusted to cook. You nearly burnt the whole house down attempting to make breakfast in bed."

"That was one time and for our first anniversary! Though I suppose it did teach me not to do sweet things for you again. You don't seem to be able to appreciate them." He crossed his arms.

"Forgive me for not wanting to put my live in danger over eggs that weren't only burnt but also poorly seasoned."

"I followed Mumsy's recipe."

"No wonder they were terrible. That woman's cooking is barely better than yours."

"Don't you bring my mother into this!"

"You're the one who mentioned her name."

"At least mine doesn't wear rouge like some sort of tart."

"Oh so now my Maman's a whore?" Marianne set Peter down on the bed, the child oblivious to the arguing that was going on between his parents.

"Well you had to learn from somewhere." Arthur muttered under his breath crossing his arms. Before his wife could come up with a reply to that he gave an awkward cough and turned towards the door. "I'm taking the twins to a movie in a few minutes. Alfred keeps on begging to see some horror thing… I know he gets nightmares, but there is this one with knights and things I want to see that seems far more age appropriate."

iGo on and change the topic so you get the last word in,/i Marianne thought narrowing her eyes before she decided just to lay back down, iI'll finish with you later./i "That sounds fine. Just make sure not to forget Mattie again."

"That was one time, and I went right back for him!" Arthur said defensively before leaving the room and shutting the door behind him.

Marianne rolled onto her side propping her head up on her hand looking down at Peter. She place her finger in his littler hand, and he happily replied with little noises. It was times like this that she pretended her youngest son was telling her how much of a jerk his father was and how she was always right (though she knew she was just as often in the wrong for her words and actions). "Oh I know, I know imon chouchou/i, but you shouldn't say such things, he is your father after all."

She settled back into her spot, Peter's hand still wrapped around her finger.

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Ludwig woke up the next morning to the sound of a neighbor's lawn mower. Instantly her groaned feeling a kink that had formed in his neck, from spending the night in his office swivel chair; his mouth was dry and his trousers still undone. It was certainly not his favorite way to wake up, and when he was reminded of why it was he was sleeping in his office he let out another disgruntled noise. He and Nataliya had gotten into a fight, this time over adopting a child.

Ludwig willed himself from the chair and peaked through the venetian blinds at the driveway. His wife's car was gone so the coast was clear. Making his way back to his desk, he ignored the paused scene of a woman tied up and being thoroughly fucked to check the time. A little after ten, that gave him a few hours to rinse off the shame glaze, get some house work that needed to be done finished, take the dogs out, and get in a bit of exercise before he would have to face Nataliya. He closed the video window, ejected the D.V.D. that had kept him company last night and hid it away in a locked drawer with the others.

Ludwig let the dogs out in the back yard before making his way to the master bathroom. He shed his soiled clothes tossing them into the full hamper (he made a mental note to add laundry to the list of things he needed to get done too). Ludwig hopped into the shower making sure the water was extra hot before she went to scrubbing his body; the combination of hot water and fresh scented soap were the perfect combination to refresh himself after a night of masturbation and depression. Once thoroughly cleaned, he brushed the stale taste of old spit from his mouth, before dressing.

Carrying the hamper on his hip down to the washroom just off from the kitchen, he started a load of laundry before letting the three dogs in. Once the washing machine was running, Ludwig decided that he had best refuel and energize with a cup of strong coffee and a simple breakfast to hold him over with the chores.

It wasn't as if he was cleaning because Nataliya didn't throughout the week. She did the dishes most of the time and vacuumed the carpets, and swept up the floors every day. After all the two of them had three dogs, and making sure the not so lovely odors that accompanied their beloved pets was a full time job. It was just that Ludwig could be described as a "neat freak" and his occupation combined with his wife's job made giving the house a top to bottom scrub down daily was impossible. Instead he opted to just do it every Saturday. The weeks his wife didn't have a wedding to fret over she would join him, though it could lead to fighting between the two.

Once his meal was finished he set right to scrubbing down the kitchen; the moment his dogs smelt the bleach they settled themselves into the spare room that acted as their bedroom of sorts. Ludwig moved on from the kitchen to the living room, then bathroom, before heading upstairs once he felt the first floor was perfect.

A little after one he fixed himself a light lunch than decided on watching a bit of television. Not soon after he had settled on a nature documentary, the front door opened and Nataliya announced her return home. When he replied she entered the living room in a smart little navy dress before plopping down on the couch.

"I swear some of the braids maids are a million times worse than the brides!" she sighed loudly slipping off her shoes, then as if the two had not had their fight the previous night she set her legs across his lap. Ludwig had jumped a bit in surprise; she didn't pretend not to notice, "What is wrong?"

He blinked at her not really sure what to say or do. "I just… I just thought that you were mad at me still."

Nataliya flipped her hair over her shoulder before stretching her arms up into the air, "Not really. You didn't come to bed last night so I figured sleeping on the floor was enough punishment." She flashed him a sly little grin, "but I think that you were also right to some extent."

There was an interesting development. She was admitting to being wrong, "What's the catch though?"

"What catch?" there she added a light little laugh, "I just think that I haven't been as attentive as I should be as your wife. After all how can I expect you to stay faithful to me if I'm not willing to give you what you need." Nataliya scrunched her legs up so that her face was near his shoulder.

"Is that so?" he was still confused.

"How about you take me out to dinner tonight, and we can see where things progress from there."

Ludwig lifted his eye brow. He was suspicious but the thought of sexual contact from someone other than himself (or someone he would have to pay—though that was out of the question) was too alluring. "That… that doesn't sound bad."

"Well you don't seem very excited," she said in a low voice complete with one of her little pout/glares. She then suddenly started to laugh and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before standing up suddenly, "I'm going to have some lunch you want anything?"

"No I already ate." He watched her as she went to the kitchen, sitting there thoroughly confused. It was as if she was up to something, and he was certain that's what it was. Ludwig knew his wife could be sneaky, he also knew she was stubborn; but there was that chance of sex later that clouded his mind like it did with most other men.


	7. Chapter 7

Ludwig stood at the foot of the stairs, fully dressed in one of the dark grey suites that he normally wore for work. It felt odd dressed in work clothes on a Saturday evening and even odder that he was waiting to take Nataliya out for a date. It was the first time in nearly a year the two were going somewhere other than the grocery store with one another. Glancing down at his watch, Ludwig evaluated how much time they had left, the reservations were for seven; it was just a bit past six now, and the traffic shouldn't make the drive any more than thirty minutes. Still he would like it if his wife would hurry up and be ready.

Ludwig directed his attention to the top of the stairs hearing the floorboards creak; and there at the top of the steps stood his Nataliya. She was just that, i_his Nataliya/i. _There was nothing particularly different about the way she looked; she was wearing one of her navy blue cocktail dresses and a pair of black leather heels, her platinum hair was straight and held back with just a headband, and her makeup was the same as it always was. Ludwig wasn't quite sure what he had been expecting from her; maybe that she would wear something other than the standard affair for when she had a wedding to set up. Though to complain about her dressing the same way she always did for work would be hypocritical.

"Sorry it took so long." She said with a little shrug halfway down the stair well.

_Why did it take so long?_ Ludwig thought knowing better then to open his mouth. "It's fine we have plenty of time to spare, still." He opened the door for her and locked it behind the two of them once they were on the stoop.

The first few minutes of the drive was complete with an awkward silence between the two of them. "It's so nice to be going out together again." Nataliya said placing her hand on his thigh breaking the silence.

Ludwig nodded, "Why don't we do this more often?" he asked keeping his focus on the road.

Nataliya shifted her hand, clutching at the fabric of his trousers for a brief moment. There was a sharp intake of air before she said in a weak voice, "We _need_ to."

Ludwig repeated her words in his head, _We need to_. He had been craving her touch for months now waiting for her to get over the sadness of not being able to conceive a child. Nataliya had built up a wall between the two of them; and there was only so much work he could do chiseling away at that wall without her help. _More like you need to try…_ he thought briefly taking his eyes off of the road to glance over at her, offering his wife a little smile.

Maybe she was finally over her depression. Maybe she was at least trying to. That would explain why it was they were heading out for their date, rather than spending another night at home with the dogs. Maybe Nataliya was willing to right their relationship once again… or maybe she was up to something (she was quite good at being sneaky).

He pulled the car up along the curb and turned his keys into the waiting valet. Nataliya looked up at the building, "This is wear Gilbert's party was last night right?" she raised her eyebrow, "Why on earth would a place like this allow you're brother to hold a party?"

"It's owned by a family friend." Ludwig said in a low voice taking her arm, "I only had hors d'oeuvres, but they were rather good and the atmosphere was rather romantic. I hope you don't mind my bringing you here."

"Not at all," Nataliya held her body closer to his as they walked up to the host's podium. The two were then lead to a table in the front dining room and seated next to the window that over looked the street. The walls were a rich creamy color with low lighting a lit candle on each of the small round tables. Ludwig pulled his wife's chair out for her, "Thank you." She said in a low voice as she settled in and the two were handed menus to look over.

As Ludwig looked through the list he felt something at his ankle that something worked its way up his calf before it rested on his knee. Glancing under the table he confirmed that it was Nataliya's foot, confused he looked across the table at his wife who gave him a sly look over the top of her menu. "I think we should get a bottle of wine."

"Is your foot in my lap?" he raised his eyebrow leaning across the table to whisper.

"Maybe—"

"Please remove it."

Nataliya gave him a determined look; Ludwig stared right back into her eyes before he just removed her foot from his lap on his own. With a sigh he went back to his menu. "I'm just trying to have fun." She said complete with a playful huff and pout.

"Well here and now is neither the place nor time for such behavior."

"And you were the one who was complaining about our never having sex last night." Her voice was barely audible as she fixed Ludwig with a cold sort of calculating look.

He, on the other hand, could feel his cheeks getting hot and looked around the dining room to make sure that no one had heard what she said. Nataliya just continued to look across at him. She had to be up to something. "What do you want to eat?" he asked closing his own menu; he'd made up his mind before his wife had started with her tricks

"I feel like starting with the lobster bisque. I can always go for a good bowl of soup no matter the weather." She slid her finger down the menu, "And I'll continue the seafood theme with the grilled salmon. Oh, or should we just get oysters to start?" she raised her eyebrows and bit her bottom lip.

For someone who had refused to give him what he needed in the bedroom for months now she was being far too flirtatious and it was honestly making Ludwig feel quite uncomfortable. Luckily the waiter appeared at the table and the two ordered their meals avoiding oysters all together. Something had gotten into Nataliya—and that something was going to do its best to destroy Ludwig. He needed to get away from her before he ended up in embarrassment. He excused himself from their table before making his way to the bathroom on the second floor.

Ludwig needed to cool down. His heart was racing with the thoughts of finally being on top of his wife again. Her pale womanly body beneath him as he did all the filthy things he'd wanted to do to her since she had decided she was done with sex. He could only think that's where they were going. She had started with footsies, wanted to order wine, and was joking around about oysters now.

He made it to the men's restroom and half-collapsed onto one of the white porcelain sinks. Supporting his upper body with his hands he stared into his reflection in the mirror. Ludwig was no longer a teenage boy; he'd lost his virginity years ago, he'd have sex too many times to count since then too… and had watched far too much pornography then he was comfortable with admitting. His wife teasing him and playing at games while they were at dinner really shouldn't e getting him with hot and bothered.

This was Nataliya though. It was always safe to assume she had something planned up her sleeve. She was the kind of woman who was an expert at calculating the perfect way to get what she wanted. He had seen her do it before, she knew just what to say, just how to say it, and move her body in the way that she could get whatever she wanted. Like when they were out the grocery store and she wanted a cut of meat they didn't have on the self. She knew just how to get the lazy twenty something at the counter to stop lying and get it form the back, just how to look into his eyes with the right expression to get him to even mark it down

Now she was using her talents on him. Her own husband! She wanted a baby, and had gotten adoption into her head That wasn't an impossible thing. Neither had the sort of checkered past that would make an agency reject them; Ludwig had a good job, made good money. They were even on the way to one day owning the three bedroom house in a quiet neighborhood a short walk from an elementary school. They were the perfect candidates for one day becoming parents through the long adoption process. Nataliya's only obstacle at this point was Ludwig… and she was willing to use her body to clear the hurdle her husband was.

"Be strong." He said to himself standing up and looking into the mirror in the sort of way a young man needing a confidence boost before a job interview or an attempt at getting into a beautiful woman's bed. With a quick adjustment of his jacket and tie Ludwig made his way out of the two stall restroom, and into the narrow hall that lead back to the stairwell.

Only he bumped into someone the moment he stepped outside the door. "Sorry." He muttered the apology before looking down into the face of the person he'd run into. It was Marianne, and suddenly he could feel the blush he'd willed away just moments ago come back up to his cheeks.

"You just couldn't stay away from me?" she asked raising a perfectly manicured eyebrow and pressing her body against his. Her blouse was low-cut, giving him a great view of the cleavage she was pressing against him, "But don't you think running into me like this is a bit rude?"

"I just—I just didn't notice you." He said quietly looking around to make sure a fellow patron or one of her employees was no wear nearby, "I need to get back to my wife… I think she's wondering where I went."

"Can I meet the Misses?" Marianne tilted her head to the side, "I've always wondered about the sort of woman who you settled down with." She had a smirk on her lips that was making him uncomfortable. Why were all the women in his life doing their very best to make him feel as uncomfortable as possible today?

"Uh, I don't see why not." Ludwig glanced down the hallway again. Marianne finally backed away from him. The older woman was just up to her typical flirtatious ways. It was how she always had been with him after all. With a little nod and another adjustment of his suite he lead the way back down the spiraled stairs and into the front dining room where the two had been seated.

Nataliya was still sitting in her chair sipping a glass of wine from the bottle she must have ordered while he was away from the table. His glace sat half full at his spot.

"You're finally back. I thought you'd gotten lost!" she gave him a bit of a giggle taking another drink (finishing off the glass).

He cleared his throat and remained standing, "Nataliya, this is Marianne. She's the owner and one of Gilbert's best friends." His wife turned to look at the other woman, who smiled down at her.

There was a brief moment of tense air as Nataliya looked the other woman over quickly before standing and offering her hand. "I am glad to meet you. I think we spoke over the phone when you gave me the address."

"Ah yes we did speak!" Marianne took her hand, "I have always wondered what sort of woman little Ludwig married, and I'm glad to see that she, you, are quite beautiful."

"Oh thank you. You're lovely yourself. And your business is wonderful; I'm happy Ludwig brought me here for dinner tonight."

"Ah is he trained well? I must admit I spend far more time with his brother, and Gilbert is far from being the cultured kind. I think he just takes poor Elizabeta out to dive bars and pretends that that's the kind of place suitable for dates."

"I think I got the better brother then." Nataliya laughed.

The first course was brought to the table and Marianne took this as her cue to leave. "Enjoy your meal, please tell me what you think." She looked to Ludwig before leaving, "It was good seeing you again." And she took her leave.

Mr. and Mrs. Beilschmidt took their seats again. They were quite for a bit while Nataliya poured herself another glass of wine, ignoring the etiquette of waiting for an employee to do so for her. "She's beautiful isn't she?" there was a hint of jealousy to her voice.

Ludwig proceeded with caution. "She's almost like a sister in a way. She always used to tease me when I was in high school and she would come home with Gilbert of breaks"

"Your father let one of your brother's girlfriends stay over at your house?" she took a sip from her soup.

"They never dated. She's always been more of a friend… even though Gilbert was one of her bridesmaids when she got married."

"Oh she's married?" Naraliya asked settling ack into her seat with far less jealousy in her voice.

"Yes and has three boys." Ludwig could feel his wife's food near his ankle again at the mention of children. He took a deep breath, but said nothing about its location this time.

Marianne walked briskly back to the small bar in between the front and back dining rooms. She stepped behind the bar and to the computer where the servers plugged in the orders for their customers. She typed the table number that Ludwig and his pretty little with were eating at and looked over what exactly they had ordered thus far. "Tino, come here." She motioned with her finger ushering the small blonde man to join her behind the counter.

He set the tray he had in hand down on the counter and side stepped his way past the bartender to the little computer. Carefully he peaked over his boss' shoulder. "Yes ma'am?"

"Table thirteen's meal is on the house tonight. I'm just charging them for their bottle of wine—"

"Did I do something wrong?" he looked a bit nervous. His boss was a woman of perfection and expected nothing less from the staff when it came to serving their customers. He could remember a girl getting yelled at to the point where she was near tears for mixing up a table on her second night. Still, it wasn't like Marianne was a heartless bitch.

"Of course not _mon cheri_. I just know the gentleman very well and decided to give them a bit of a break. I pity the dears." She hit print at the top corner of the screen. Once the slip came out she turned the paper over and wrote a quick note:

iI decided your food was on the house. Please pay for your bottle of wine, and tip Tino well. Also Ludwig call me, it's the least you can do./i

Marianne added her phone number and slipped the paper into the black leather wallet and passed it over to her employee. "Please don't mix this one up with anyone else's."

"Okie-dokie!" He said cheerfully tucking the envelope down in the cubby-hole next to the register, "I'm going to get back to work then—can't let this meal get cold." Tino got back o work picking up the tray and making his way to the proper table.

Marianne went back to making her rounds. After checking in with the kitchens and wait staff she made her way up to the third floor office. She slipped into the seat next to her desk and removed her black Louis Vuitton's; she may have been a woman of appearances, but she was still human. And in being human, there was only so long one could wear a pair of high heels before their feet were crying out in mercy. Leaning back in her swivel chair, Marianne place her hands behind her back and propped her feet up on the table top.

She had her sons, she had her business, she had so much more then so many women the world over… and yet Marianne was still unhappy. She felt like she was being weighed down by something deep in her heart and like her whole world was forever overcast and gray. Yet it was the sort of unhappiness she knew antidepressants could never help her with… she needed a person to fix it… and last night she had been convinced that person was Ludwig; so when she had bumped into him outside the bathroom, and felt his heart racing, that's when she knew she couldn't let him slip away.

Marianne had felt that he was unhappy too. She had a sixth sense to knowing other's emotions. It was a common trait amongst mothers, to feel what those around them felt. And she was a mother thrice over now—so that must mean she was an expert. There was something heavy in the air around the table her planned conquest was sharing with his wife. And the moment that she felt it any hesitation that she had about her dearest friend's younger brother fighting away her temptation evaporated. The two may be sitting in her dining room, enjoying a romantic evening with one another—but there was still something wrong with their relationship.

That something she wasn't quite sure of. It wasn't like with her and Arthur, how they were always fitting and had little to no mutual respect for one another. It had honestly been nothing but cruel words back and forth. It had always been like that between the two of them and there was only so much the patches of children could hold back before the dam burst and the flood waters came rushing in. There were other temporary fixes though; infidelity being one.

Marianne had had a sneaking suspicion for nearly a year now that her Arthur was up to a secret relationship. Some pretty little paramour he'd meet on the side a couple of times a week. Possibly having more than one, it had to be a single younger woman, or a string of them. Young girls were stupid and fell easily for an English accent, a wallet full of money, and poorly put together lies. Never being invited back to his house or communicating via only text messages would raise a flag in the mind of any experienced woman.

And Marianne never once investigated the possibility her husband was being less then faithful. She supposed it should have gnawed away at her and drove her mad. But she wanted an affair of her own and knew better then to go snooping around her husband's business when she was plotting infidelities of her own. It had just been a matter of finding someone. Though she wanted extramarital relations she was still a woman of class and needed to find a man that would not bring her down, dragging her thru hoops that would only lead her to a graceless downfall.

Neither her Gilbert nor Antonio were options. While the three had had sex man times in all sorts of groupings, it was always just that, sex. She could easily get _just__ sex_ from her husband (that's what their relationship seemed to have been built on—just sex, _just mind lowing, angry, rough sex_) and it was no longer satisfying her needs. And then there was the fact that both Gilbert and Antonio had a code; they'd remained faithful to their partners once in relationships, and ever since Marianne's official relationship with Arthur had begun she hadn't fallen into bed with either one.

It wasn't as if she thought Ludwig to be a dishonorable man. It was that she felt attracted to him. She always had since she'd first met him. That tall blonde boy, disciplined, well built, too serious and handsome. He was far from the type of man one would suspect to be willing to have an affair; but the moment she'd seen him standing alone in the room at his brother's party. That's when she knew he was just as unhappy as she was; and the possibility came sneaking into her mind.

She needed to have him. And he needed to have her.

Ludwig had drank one glass of wine. He was being the responsible one. After all he had driven himself and Nataliya to the restaurant and was going to do his best to make sure that he got them home safely; so despite his size and ability to hold his liquor well he had limited himself to that one glass and sips of imported mineral water. Nataliya on the other hand was drunk.

She wasn't sloppy drunk, it seemed like that was something that was possible to achieve when you were a dainty and elegant woman like her. Never had he seen his wife stumbling over herself, wandering in a half asleep stupor. She was however slurring her words ever so slightly and not holding her dessert fork quite right. She had also begun to babble.

"Do you two want anything else? Coffee?" their waiter, a blonde Finn with a baby face asked appearing at Ludwig's shoulder.

"Just the check, please," Ludwig stated, as he watched his wife finish off her meal.

"I'll be right back then sir."

"We should have gotten coffee." Nataliya said with a bit of a pout—she had been using that facial expression far too much tonight for Ludwig's comfort.

"We have coffee at home. And I think we need to get you to bed as soon as possible."

"Oh, but why? I am having so much fun with you darling!" the last word was a bit too loudly spoken and woman on the other side of the room looked over at them, "And we don't have French coffee—"

"We do have Turkish coffee though, which is good enough." He took the check wallet from their waiter the moment he returned. Ludwig's face was starting to get warm again and he was ready to get his wife out of there before she made a scene. He'd never seen her in such a state of intoxication.

Flipping open the wallet he noticed that they were not charged for any of their food. Just the bottle of wine that his wife had done all she could to polish off. He was about to go searching for the young man who had served them before he noticed the writing and turned the receipt over to read the note Marianne had written. At that moment Ludwig knew he had turned completely pink.

He was tempted to fight the woman's offer, but he knew her well. Marianne would never take his money to pay for the meal, but he didn't know her well enough to suspect what her wanting to call him was about. He simple pulled out his credit card slipping it into the little pocket, wrote in a tip amount and waited for the waiter to return.

The car ride home was one sided. Nataliya was babbling on about something involving her older sister and brother when they were children. That was until they pulled up in front of the house and she looked at him declaring, "Tonight I'm going to fuck you." That's when he knew she was drunk.

**Author's** **Note**: I hope that you all enjoyed this update. Sorry for the delay with this one and my other stories that you may read but I was going through some fanfiction related sadness. Please accept this update as an apology (I figured it was wrong to punish my loyal readers over me feeling unappreciated).


	8. Chapter 8

**AN **Before we start there is a chapter between this one and the last one that is just a straight up sex scene. Because of FFN's rules I can not upload it. If you would like to read it you can head over to the kink meme. On the third fill list's 55th page you can find the link to the story, or head over to my AO3 to read it there (my AO3 username is RunAwayWithMeTonight).

Ludwig woke up a little after eight thirty to an over cast sky and a half empty bed. For a brief moment he was disappointed that Nataliya wasn't still asleep next to him. He would have loved nothing more than to wake up with her beside him before holding her body close to his and kissing her forehead until she either told him to stop or the two could have morning sex. Instead he just yawned before getting out of bed. He did a few stretches to get his blood flowing before making the bed up nice and neat, careful to tuck the corners in just so and smooth out each layer of fabric so that it was free of wrinkles.

Once satisfied with his work, Ludwig made his way to the bathroom and went through his morning routine (minus the showering seeing how he'd bathed right before falling asleep the previous night), before heading down stairs. In his head, he liked to imagine that his wife had followed up a night of actually having sex with him, with a large breakfast. When the two were dating and earlier on in their marriage with the two would make love with more frequency, Nataliya would always wake up the next morning and cook something magnificent. When he'd asked her why, once the two had been together long enough for it to just be expected, her reply was "To get your strength back up" and was accompanied with a wink (almost needless to say was the fact that it made him blush as he returned to his eggs).

There was no smell of a delicious home cooked breakfast drifting through the hallway when he stepped-out, nor did it greet him as he made his way down stairs. What did meet him however were this three dogs wagging their tails and playfully fighting to try and be the first one to lick him good morning. Ludwig took a seat on the steps and scratched behind each of his dogs ears giving them their morning love. Once the three were satisfied they allowed him to continue on down the stairs.

He took a moment and glanced into the kitchen, there was nothing on the stove nor was there a plate waiting for him on the counter. It was a bit disappointing that things between the two of them hadn't returned completely to the way that they had been. But that would be foolish really, why would one night where Nataliya was half drunk reset the months of disappoint, followed by isolation. Ludwig put on a pot of coffee feeling more bothered with himself than anything else.

"Are you finally up then?" Nataliya called from the living room taking him out of his mental pity party, "I thought you would have woken up hours ago."

He cleared his throat before stepping out of the kitchen and walking down the short hallway until he was in the threshold that led to the living room. "It's Sunday. I always sleep in on Sundays."

"I guess even you need your rest then." She glanced over shoulder at him, away from her laptop screen

Ludwig stepped into the room, "I'm surprised that you're so cheerful." He waited for his wife to lift her legs up off of the couch so that he could sit down next to her. "After all that wine you drank."

Nataliya set her legs back down over his lap. Right away he went to rubbing just above her knee, "I wasn't drunk." She fixed him with a little grin, "Just, wine makes me a bit giggly something about the grapes I guess." She shrugged before focusing back on her computer.

"Work emails?"

"No just a bit of research."

"On flowers?"

"No."

"What then?"

"How to get our hands on a baby…"

Instantly Ludwig felt betrayed. "I thought we discussed this on Friday."

"That is correct." Her voice remained even.

"And didn't we talk about not doing that."

"That was all you. And I gave you what you wanted." She looked up from her computer before closing the screen and setting it on the glass coffee table, "I expect to get what I want."

"I am not having this argument again already." He made the motion to stand up, but she had him pinned in and pressed her legs against his lap to keep him into place. If that wasn't enough to keep him sitting Nataliya fixed him with a glare. Ludwig let out a deep sigh before running his hands through his hair. "There is a difference between having sex more often and adopting a child."

"Naturally. For example: I haven't been dreaming of sleeping with some man since I was a little girl; however I have been dreaming of being a mother since then."

He let out another sigh. That escalated far quicker than he had been expecting, and frankly Ludwig didn't have an argument nearly that strong. After all when the two had discussed having their own, natural child he had been all for it. Then when things had proven to be difficult he was still in support of seeking alternative measures when it came to conception. But when it was revealed that those other options were going to be nearly impossible for his wife, he had given up and committed himself to a life of never being a father. That had been more than a year ago and he was perfectly comfortable with that. He had thought that Nataliya was also okay with that… but evidently he had been wrong. She was so clearly depressed and had been, hell, he'd gotten the dogs to cheer her up a bit. Right, the dogs.

"We have dogs." He offered as a counter point. It was weak and he realized that the moment that the words left his mouth.

"Dogs are not people. A dog is never going to be an appropriate substitute for a child." Her tone was clearly offended. "Why would you even think that?"

"I didn't really… I mean how long is it going to take for us to get a kid anyway—"

"A baby could take years. Unless we go a more private route, put out adds and hope that someone who is unable to give a child what they need will see them, answer them, and give us their child that we clearly have the means to care for."

"That could take just as long how do you—"

"Or we can get an older kid. The world is full of children that need good homes. I can just see you and a little boy in the back yard kicking a ball around and rough housing on the living room floor. Or what if we got a little girl? Just imagine having our own little princess to spoil rotten? Ludwig… I just—just imagine how happy we'll be as parents finally."

He was quiet and watched her. Just talking about having a child in their life had softened her face from a glare that could reduce even the most hardened of grown men into a puddle of fear. She wasn't looking at him with the eyes of someone ready to argue, but with those of someone passionately stating everything she had ever really wanted in life. And honestly there was no way he could imagine taking that from her.

Ludwig let out a deep sigh, and let his eyes lower, he had been defeated, "I suppose we can move forward with the first steps then."

Nataliya let out a noise of pure joy and practically folded herself in half wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing his face sloppily until she found his lips.

Monday morning Ludwig woke up at his typical early hour, before proceeding to do his normal routine. Rounded up the dogs, took them with him for his morning run, did a few repetitions, and took a shower all before getting dressed in a suite and making his way to the kitchen.

Nataliya was up (as he expected). Had cooked breakfast (again expected). What wasn't expected though was the piles of eggs, sausages, and bread that he couldn't fathom how she had managed to go out, get it and come home while he was in the shower.

"Where did you get this bread from?" he asked watching as the butter melted into the fluffy center.

"That bakery over on Linden."

"They're open this early in the morning?"

"Nope I got it yesterday and hid it in the cabinet to surprise you."

"But it's warm."

Nataliya gave him a small smile, "I stuck it into the oven… kind of was hoping to cheat you into thinking that I baked it myself."

"I wouldn't fall for that. You never bake."

"I can start if you would like? I used to bake with Katya when we were kids. Well when I was a kid. I may be rusty but I've got this idea in my head where we're the house all the children want to come to because I make the world's best cookies; and on Sundays we always have the loaves of bread and maybe biscuits."

The look on his wife's face was so bright and full of hope. She was just so excited thinking solely about the possibility that the two of them were going to have a child in their house someday. He didn't want to ruin her mood by saying the wrong thing.

"That sounds nice." He waited for a moment, "But I think the other parents would hate us for getting their children fat."

"It will all be jealousy and make the other mother's feel inadequate when it comes to their baking skills."

"Of course." He smiled back at her finishing up his meal. "I should get going." He stood up taking his plate with him.

Nataliya stood up shortly after and went to clearing the table. Ludwig on the other hand began to gather his things up. He put his papers into his briefcase, grabbed his coat off of the rack and fished his car keys from the end table drawer near the front door. "I'm going to head out then."

"Alright, I'll see you later then."

"See you." Ludwig shut the front door behind himself and made his way to his car.

Then it was off to go through the routine of a long commute, too much traffic, and the battle of a decent spot in the parking garage. He went through all of the motions as he normally did just like how it was on every other day. Though, at the back of his head he kept playing the breakfast that he had had with Nataliya. How she had been so happy and had told him about the silly little things she wanted to once the two of them had a child to call their own. At the same time though he couldn't help but admit to himself he wasn't looking forward to the whole adoption process, nor was he looking forward to what things were going to be like once that process was over. But he had agreed to it to make his wife happy. And well he was going to have to stick to that agreement. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if he were to take away her happiness.

Then there was the fact that as he left the house he didn't tell her that he loved her, nor had she said it back to him. Wasn't that what married couples were supposed to do. Tell one another that they love each other before heading out for the day? Wasn't that supposed to be the last thing from their lips as they parted and the first thing when they were together again? Ludwig sighed reaching his office sliding his hand down over his face and sighing. He was over thinking this. _He had to be over thinking it_. The two of them had never been the lovey-dovey sort of couple so why start now.

Ludwig set his brief case down on his desk before standing into front of the coat hanger. First he removed his gloves, placing them into the pocket of his coat. A crinkling noise came from it as he did so. Curious he removed the gloves along with a slip of paper. Carefully pulling it apart he realized it was the receipt from Saturday night. Turning the paper over he say Marianne's note. He had yet to call her and give her a proper thank you for the meal being on the house. It wasn't yet nine, and he had a feeling that she wouldn't be awake yet, so he held on to the slip of paper deciding that he would call her later. If he did so during his lunch, she should be awake after noon. Ludwig made his way to his desk and sat down in the swivel chair tucking the receipt into his desk draw and booting his computer up, ready to start another routine day of office work.

Like usual after a couple of hours of quiet and efficiently completing his daily tasks, there was the overly excited sound of _"Ciao"_ as Feliciano entered his office.

Ludwig glanced at the little clock in the corner on the computer. _11:09 he's later than usual_ he thought. Though, it would be silly to hold the Italian man to any sort of structure or schedule. But ordinarily, he did get distracted from his normal tasks of paper work (Ludwig could only assume—the two never discussed work) around 10:30.

"How was your weekend?" Feliciano asked gliding farther into the office until he stood at the front of Ludwig's desk.

"Fine." It was a short answer and not far from the truth. Friday evening had been not so good with the fight and his falling asleep in his home office chair. Saturday had been fantastic good food, and amazing sex (really the two things all men craved when you got down to it). Sunday on the other hand had been not so bad though he did agree to commit himself to eighteen plus years of something he wasn't quite sure he was ready for but knew that he didn't actually want. 'Fine' seemed to be the right word to use though. It was noncommittal, and covered a decent wide range of scenarios.

"Just 'fine'?" Feliciano asked tilting his head to the side with raised eyebrows. Ludwig should really have known a one word answer wouldn't be good enough for the other man. "What did you do?"

What to tell the other without giving too much away into his mediocre at best personal life. "Nataliya and I went out on a date on Saturday."

"Oh finally! I was starting to get worried about you two. She's such a pretty lady, you're so lucky that you have a beautiful wife like her."

"Worried about us?"

"Yes you always seem so lonely Ludwig. It bothers me sometimes."

"Is that why you're always coming in here?" he asked raising an eyebrow.

"Yes… and no I like talking to my friends. It's nice to do something other than sit in a desk all day working."

"You do realize that's what a job is for, working."

"That's not all that it has to be for." He leaned onto Ludwig's desk and smiled, "And how was your date?"

"Good." He waited for a moment before continuing on, enough time to hesitate but not enough time for Feliciano to ask him another question to get him to keep on going, "We went to a French place that my brother's friend owns. The atmosphere was quite nice and the food was very good."

"You should have gone to an Italian restaurant. You're night would have been more than just good."

Ludwig wasn't surprised by the national pride the other man expressed but was with the words that went unsaid. Was that a sexual innuendo of some kind really coming from Feliciano? Probably not he decided, it was certainly just related to food. Though maybe the next time the two of them went out they should go to an Italian place.

"We also decided to contact an adoption agency." he was certain he would end up telling the other man about Nataliya's plans sooner or later why not now.

"You're finally going to get a _bambino_?" he asked excitedly (and quite loudly too), "I'm so happy for you two. Oh do you want a boy or a girl? What are you going to name him? Oh, when I can I meet him?"

"Do you have any idea how long these things take?" the Italian shook his head and Ludwig sighed, "Years, and I'm certain that my wife would be more than happy with either a boy or a girl."

"And you?"

"I supposed I feel the same way."

"I'm so happy for you. I think you'll be a good papa! Even if you would be super strict and your kid would probably be afraid of you sometimes, but you would still be fun."

There was another person in his doorway now, the tall stern man in charge of the floor who looked less then pleased about what was going on (though annoyed seemed to be his default facial expression). His eyes moved from Ludwig to Feliciano, and then back to Ludwig. The man took the time to process what was happening before pointing to Feliciano, "You need to get back to your cubicle. I'm tired of your wandering off, and today you're just being too loud." He jerked his raised thumb back over his shoulder with a glare still fixed on the smaller Italian man.

"But Ludwig is going to have a baby. Not soon, in like a couple of years but he's still going to have one isn't that exciting?"

"No. Now get back to work before I'll make it so that you don't have a job to do work with anymore."

There was a brief moment where Ludwig thought that the threat may have completely flown over Feliciano's head. But then the other moved making his way out the door. The man in charge watched as the crestfallen Italian made his way down the hall and back to his own work station, "Do you want me to close the door?" he asked focusing his attention back on the owner or the office.

"Shut it, please sir." Ludwig waited until the click of the door back in its proper place reached his ears before he returned back to his work.

After noon Ludwig stood up from his desk and stretched, deciding that it was time for lunch and to call Marianne. He reached into the drawer of his desk retrieving the receipt, and unclipped his cellphone from its place on his belt loop. Carefully he dialed the number and waited as the phone rang.

"_Hello"_ rang out the familiar voice on the other end.

Ludwig let out the breath that he didn't realize he had been holding, "Is this Marianne Kirkland?"

_"This is her."_ there was a little laugh on her end, _"Really Ludwig you don't have to be so formal. Though it does surprise me it took you two days to call me. If this was college I wouldn't consider this to be a success."_

"I'm sorry I misplaced your telephone number, so it took longer than we both had anticipated. I would like to thank you again though, for Saturday. The meal was fantastic and I and grateful for your letting us enjoy it for free."

_"You're welcomed. I'm always happy to help out friends and loved ones. Did your wife enjoy herself too?"_

"She really seemed to like the wine." He said jokingly.

_"Oh well you paid for that yourself."_ Ludwig could hear the smile in her voice, and could imagine what it looked like on her face, he was sure she was wearing red lipstick expertly applied. Her white teeth looking like two strings of pearls between them.

"I would really like to make it up to you."

_"Would you?"_ she paused for a moment, _"Well I have a fantastic idea for just how you can do that. Let's go out for drinks this evening. That way you can repay me with your company."_

That didn't sound half bad to Ludwig. It would be nice to spend some time with Marianne and the two could have a chance to talk. They hadn't really had the chance to speak since Gilbert's party and even then it wasn't for too long due to her being needed elsewhere, away from the festivities. Then again he was sure Nataliya would be expecting him at home. And was it normal to hang out with your older brother's good friends that you used to have a crush on way back when.

He took another moment to think it over. Nataliya wouldn't mind would she? He could send her a text saying he had to work a bit late and she would probably accept it. Why wouldn't she? She knew that he took his work seriously. And well Marianne was his brother's friend there was nothing odd about wanting to spend some time with her talking about old times.

_ "That sounds good."_

The two agreed on a time, 6:30, and a place a little bar that he had never heard of before a few blocks away from his office building.


End file.
